Policy Development in the Nigerian Civil Service: Learning to Leading

Introduction

Effective governance is fundamentally driven by sound public policies. However, contrary to the widely held view that Nigeria’s policy challenges stem primarily from poor implementation, recent evidence, including findings from a baseline survey conducted by the Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation, reveals that faulty policy formulation is a critical and often overlooked contributor to governance failures.

The survey, conducted among directorate-level staff in Nigeria’s Federal Civil Service, identified several systemic and technical weaknesses in the policy development process. These include limited technical capacity in drafting policy documents (50.4%), inadequate access to reliable data (49.1%), poor stakeholder consultation (49.1%), and significant political interference (57.1%). For policy review, institutional challenges dominated. A substantial 82.5% of participants cited limited budgets and resources for evaluation, while 67.2% noted weak monitoring and evaluation systems. Poor documentation (58.5%), resistance to change (55.4%), and lack of inter-ministerial coordination (56.2%) were also significant barriers. These issues hinder the development of coherent, evidence-based, and implementable policies, thereby undermining their effectiveness from inception. These challenges highlight the need for both technical improvements and systemic improvements in policy development.